A Distant Light
by rotterdam
Summary: During a surprise pirate attack, Jack is badly wounded. Will he pull through, or have his nine lives finally run out?


I'm not really sure when this is set but it is in a period where it is possible for Will's father to be free and for all of th

I'm not really sure when this is set but it is in a period where it is possible for Will's father to be free and for all of the usual crowd to be sailing. I don't really know if that exists but for the sake of this oneshot, it does.

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"Fire!" roared Jack above the tumult of action around him as the crew loaded muskets and readied to board the vicious Chinese pirate ship mere meters away. He distantly heard Gibbs relay the order to the crew handling the cannons below deck before all other sound was drowned out by the scream of cannon balls flying through the air from both ships.

They had crossed paths with the Chinese ship whist heading for Port Royal to drop off Elizabeth and Will, and Jack had intended to simply pass by. _Barbaric lot, _he had thought angrily asthe Chinese ship had immediately headed their way with no other aim but to kill and raid. He had seen this type before; untrained and ruthless murderers wielding every type of weapon known to man. Jack noticed several of the crew supporting a dangerous type of bow and arrow but made of metal which he had never seen before. He pitied whoever was at the receiving end of that.

Standing at the helm, Jack watched the scene unfold below him. Elizabeth had seized a sword and looked ready to fight but was being held back by Will.

Bill bounded up the stairs to where Jack was standing and grasped his shoulder. "You ready?" Will had succeeded in freeing his father who had chosen to sail with Jack, just like he had done fifteen years before when Jack had been branded and forced into piracy. Jack knew he would never find a more loyal friend anywhere or a closer one, as they had known each other since childhood.

"Yeah," said Jack, grinning and feeling the adrenalin caused by battle-nerves. He watched Elizabeth take aim and neatly shoot a crewmember on the other vessel who tumbled forward to be claimed by the turquoise Caribbean waters. He smiled and then was brought sharply back to the battle as a bullet missed his head by an inch. "Bastard," he muttered before pulling out his sword to face one of the other crewmembers who had just swung over and was hoisting himself onto the deck. He had barely made it onto the deck before Jack ran him through and kicked him back into the water.

Jack didn't have time to stop as he found himself in the midst of the battle and with his back pressed reassuringly into Bills who was fighting another man, so he abandoned the helm to Gibbs and tried to defend his ship. He ducked as one of the thick steel arrows whistled over his head and pounded into the helm, much to the shock of Gibbs who was mere inches away from it. This was followed by another one, which missed them by miles but unnerved Jack anyway.

"Bill!" he shouted, all of his energy thrown into fighting a particularly vicious man who could use a sword nearly as well as Jack could use his charm to capture any port whore he chose. Unfortunately, Jack knew strength was not his best aspect so decided to change tack and simply kicked the pirate in the crotch. The man dropped his sword in pain and shock and seizing the moment, Jack shoved him off the ship and into the water.

"Smooth," grunted Bill as he kicked a man back down the stairs before taking a swipe at another one.

Jack smiled distractedly as he watched his crew take control of the battle. The Chinese men were getting desperate and a few who could clearly see which way the battle was swinging were retreating back to their ship. Jack could no longer see their captain and wondered whether he was dead. None of the other crewmembers were trying to reach Jack or Bill anymore as they had a strong position at the top of the stairs to the helm.

Jack leapt down the stairs, closely following Bill as the two of them joined the fray. Jack saw Will run through two men in quick succession before his attention turned to one of his own crewmates who had just toppled into the ocean below. He saw another being carried below deck to where the ships surgeon had his quarters, with a deep cut to his neck. Jack saw the blood on the deck and doubted whether he would live. He felt a pang of sadness as he clashed metal with a new opponent.

As he pushed the man away, Jack felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder, as though someone had punched it. Stunned, he dropped his arms and slowly looked down at it. The end half of a steel arrow stuck out of his shoulder where it had penetrated all the way through. Jack was numbly aware of the blood and the noise of the battle around him as he looked up and caught Bill's gaze.

Bill stared and forced himself to move forward to grab Jack as he started to collapse. No one else seemed to have noticed at all but as Bill scooped Jack up in his arms and carried him to the stairs like a child, he caught Gibbs's eye. "It'll be alright Jack," he said, trying to reassure both Jack and himself but was aware of the tremble in his voice.

He burst into the large quarters of Wells, the ships surgeon and called out for him whilst pushing Jack onto the side of the rough wooden table where Jack sat, his legs hanging lifeless over the edge.

"Jesus Christ!" Wells swore and he left an injured crewmember and ran over. "What the fuck happened here?"

However, it was clear as the surgeon began to examine Jack's shoulder. The wound was invisible but Jack's shirt had soaked up a great deal of blood which also covered his coat. "We're goin' to 'ave to cut this off," he said, indicating to the coat and shirt.

As he went to find a knife, Bill grasped Jack's hand to reassure him. It was a sign of the strength of their friendship that Jack didn't shrug his hand away but grasped his hand even tighter. He was shaking uncontrollably as he stared at the wall opposite and tried to steady his breathing.

Above them, the noise of the battle had subsided and was replaced by hearty cheering. Bill presumed they had beaten off the Chinese ship. "Looks like we've won Jack," he said, trying to take the Captain's mind off his injury. Jack didn't seem to have heard.

Wells hurried back with a sharp knife, already covered in blood. "Right, if you could hold the bar steady like this," and he showed Bill what to do, "I'll cut away at his clothes."

It was simple in theory but as Bill grasped the bar each side of Jack's shoulder, he found that it was hard to keep it completely still. Every time it moved slightly, Jack would gasp in pain but apart from that, he barely moved. He gripped the edge of the table so hard Bill was sure he would crack it.

Wells pulled the clothes away, leaving Jack's chest bare.

Bill could now see the wound clearly. The arrow had entered Jack's shoulder quite neatly, except for the torrents of blood streaming down Jack's chest, stomach and back. Bill felt his own stomach turn at the sight of it all but tried to hide his true feeling from Jack.

"It's alright Jack. You'll be fine," he said soothingly, catching an appraising glance from Wells.

Behind him, Bill heard the thundering of footsteps on the stairs as Elizabeth and Will burst into the room. They approached carefully. "Oh my…" said Elizabeth quietly, paling at the amount of blood seeping from Jacks wounds. It was now dripping heavily onto the table.

"Will he recover," Will asked Wells tentatively.

"Well," the surgeon began, giving Bill two wads of cloth to try and stop the bleeding both sides of Jack's shoulder, "the wound itself it quite clean an' neat but if he looses more blood…" he left the sentence hanging.

Bill saw Will and Elizabeth exchange a frightened look. "Of course he'll be fine," Bill said firmly to them and nodding at Jack, trying to make it clear to them to be optimistic. "You've had worse than this, eh?" he said to Jack.

Jack's breathing had become more erratic, his chest shuddering.

Wells looked worried. "Right, we'll 'ave to do this quickly then. We need as little blood lost a possible or…" Again, he left the sentence hanging. "If you press down on the wounds with that cloth, I'll draw out the bar." He gripped the bar on the speared end firmly and took a deep breath to steady himself. Without warning, he quickly pulled the bar through Jack's shoulder as Bill tried to stop the blood flow by clamping the cloth hard down on the wounds.

Jack didn't cry out and Bill hoped he hadn't gone into shock. He shook where he sat on the blood-soaked table and seemed to slump in on himself.

Wells threw the bloody steel bar to one side and seized his needle and thread. "Ok, back wound," he said to Bill, who released it. He noticed Jack was swaying so with his free hand he pulled Jack to his chest to steady him. Torrents of Jack's blood covered Bill's hands and forearms, dripping down to his elbows. Jack had turned noticeably pale under his tan which sent shivers through Bill. He was scared he wouldn't make it.

"Done," cried Wells after about a minute. He ran round the table to stitch Jack's front wound as Elizabeth passed Bill a damp cloth to press against Jack's shoulder. Jack's breathing had slowed now to a shallow sigh and he closed his eyes, still leaning heavily against Bill.

"No!" cried Bill. "Jack, if you go to sleep now you won't wake up again," he said desperately, trying to shake Jack awake.

"Keep 'im still," muttered Wells, bent close to the wound he was stitching closed on Jack's quivering shoulder. "Elizabeth, pass my those clean bandages. Quicker girl!"

Elizabeth hurried over to them, her mouth set into a determined line and helped Wells pass the bandaged under Jack's arm and over his shoulder to cover the rough stitches.

"We 'ave to 'ope he don't get a fever now," said Wells whilst using the damp cloth to roughly clean the blood off Jack's chest. "He's gettin sleepy. Talk to him Bill," he added and nodded over to his own bed.

Bill carefully scooped Jack up, trying not to touch his shoulder but he felt no objection from Jack to being held like a child. He placed him carefully down on the bed, pulled his boots off and lightly placed a blanket over him. Blood was still crusted onto his torso on the places Wells hadn't wiped but Bill decided he would deal with that later.

"He's cold to touch," whispered Elizabeth, kneeling down beside the bed and touching Jack lightly on the arm with the back of her hand. She cast a fleeting worried look to Will who stood behind her, staring at the captain.

"Jack?" said Bill sharply, remembering his instructions from Wells who had now moved over to deal with other crewmembers with less serious injuries. "Stay awake Jack."

Jack groaned, the first sound he had made for a while. "I _am _awake," he muttered, opening his eyes briefly to glance at who surrounded him, only to shut them again in pain. "Unfortunately," he added.

Bill glanced up at his son and Elizabeth, mirroring their scared expressions. He felt terrified for Jack's life, just as he had done on that fateful night thirteen years before when he had been mutinied upon. It was the same feeling of being able to do nothing for someone who's as close as a brother. And even after all the years, that was how Bill saw Jack.

"Stay awake," he said again and tried to think of anything to talk to Jack about. "Do you remember when we first met, eh?" he asked desperately as it was the easiest thing to talk about.

Jack groaned and turned his head to the other side.

"We… we were eleven…" he started, looking hopefully for any signs of interest from Jack. Receiving none, he carried on saying the first things which came to mind. "You had just moved from America, remember. You lived in the house opposite… do you remember Jack?" Although Jack had barely moved, Will was listening intently.

"You have known each other for that long?" he asked incredulously. "I thought you only met as adults, as pirates."

Bill shook his head sadly. "No… if only we knew we would turn out as pirates," he said bitterly.

"What, didn't you want to be?" asked Elizabeth.

Bill shook his head. "True, although Jack wanted to be a merchant of some sort, I wanted to be a surgeon."

This shocked Will and Elizabeth. "Why didn't you become a surgeon then?" Bill's son asked.

Jack stirred and muttered, almost inaudibly, "Couldn't live without me, eh Bill?" He smiled slightly, eyes closed. The simple statement seemed to have drained him of energy.

Bill grinned and explained, "Jack was hired by the East India Trading Company and was being posted to the Caribbean so I decided to follow him and apprentice as a ships surgeon instead."

"Hang on," said Elizabeth. "I though the East India Trading Company branded Jack, not hired him?"

"Yeah they did that too-"

"Bastards," interjected Jack from the bed, drawing all attention for a few moments.

"Yes, I know," said Bill, staring at the brand mark on Jack's wrist which lay lightly on the dirty blankets. "He refused to transport slaves so they branded him," he said shortly to answer the unasked questions.

A short silence met these words. Will looked down at Jack, trying to imagine such a feared pirate acting so compassionately.

From the bed, Jack found the energy to force his eyes open and met Will's, who was staring down at him. He looked round at Bill who also watched him, a sad smile playing across his lips. It was almost as if he knew Jack was running out of enery, that he was going to have to let go. Jack felt as though some sort of magnet was dragging him down, pulling his eyes closed and no matter how hard he struggled, they would not open. His body was exhausted. If Bill was still talking he could no longer hear him, or smell the stench of blood which moments before had lingered so strongly in the room again. However, through the haze which he found himself in, he was aware of a soft, small hand take his gently and squeeze it. Mustering all his remaining strength, he gently squeezed it back. As though acting as a release, he felt as though his body was sinking… or rising… towards a distant light. A white light which grew brighter and brighter… and brighter…

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Just a short clip of a possible death. I might elaborate on the childhood conversation in a different story though because I think there are lots of possibilities there.


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